NHAI gives approval to widening of PAP flyover

Jalandhar, February 28

Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Chairman, National Highways Authority of India, on Friday gave its nod to survey and widening of the railway overbridge (RoB) at PAP to streamline the movement of traffic on the Rama Mandi-PAP chowk flyover.

The chairman, accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Varinder Kumar Sharma and Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar inspected the entire stretch from Phagwara to PAP flyover. The Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner of Police apprised the chairman about the hardships being faced by people in wake of faulty planning on the stretch. The chairman ordered the NHAI officers to immediately prepare a detailed plan report for widening of the PAP railways overbridge to provide direct connectivity to the traffic from city moving towards Amritsar and Jammu. He said the project should be conceived and executed in a highly professional and time-bound manner. Sandhu categorically said there was no dearth of funds for this project of utmost public importance.

The chairman’s visit has come days after Congress MLA Rajinder Beri held a dharna on the highway complaining of faulty overbridge. The chairman also inspected the Rama Mandi flyover and saw the point where the traffic merging from Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and Jalandhar was creating a traffic bottleneck. He asked NHAI officers to resolve the issue. At the Dakoha railway crossing the DC and Commissioner of Police apprised the chairman that paucity of land was the biggest hurdle in the construction of the proposed railway underbridge.

They informed the chairman that NHAI had a vacant stretch of land at the point and if the alignment of road was shifted by merely five metres than this issue could also be resolved. They said the Public Works Department of the state government was constructing this railway underbridge. Acceding to the demand, the chairman asked the officers of the NHAI to jointly assess the problem and ensure its workable solution in the coming days.

The chairman also asked NHAI officers to immediately start the work for removing 18 traffic black spots on the NH in the district. He also ordered provision of proper lighting arrangements and sign boards on both PAP and Rama Mandi overbridges.

The chairman also directed that drainage system on both sides of the road be redesigned to remove the bottlenecks and at the same time to widen the service lanes. He said in order to expedite work on widening of PAP and other remaining issues, work to oversee the project would be assigned to project director Jalandhar instead of project director Ambala. — TNS